For students, it's worries, suspense, action

NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: Pradeep Kumar hasn’t been this nervous about an approaching weekend. The 20-year-old will be one of the first to sample the new computerised Common Admissions Test (CAT) beginning from Saturday, and for the moment, all tips are welcome. Friends, family, teachers and even neighbours are queuing up at his home in Rohtak, Haryana, to give him last-minute tips, and Pradeep just can’t have enough of it.

“I did not opt for the first day or the first session, but I had no choice,” said Pradeep, a BTech final year student.

About 24,000 students will take the CAT on Saturday hoping to get an entry ticket to the reputed Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) and other top B-schools. This year, the exam takes on a tap-and-click avatar, making many like Pradeep, the process this year is spread over 10 days, anxious. Ashish Agarwal, another candidate for Saturday morning, disagrees with Pradeep’s concerns. The 24-year-old commerce grad from Jamshedpur is taking CAT for the third time, and has been preparing for the online test from June onwards.

“It was my choice. I didn’t want to sit on a later date and be swayed by what other people said. That’s why I even opted for the first slot at 10 AM instead of the afternoon one,” he said.

His only refrain is that students need to reach the centre two hours before the test. That means he has to set out for his CAT centre, which is pretty far from his home as early as six in the morning. Ashish has gone through 8 mock tests at Career Launcher (Kolkata Centre) and said that there should not be any rude surprises.

Hyderabad-based Kavya Sarraju agrees with Ashish when it comes to being the first ones to brave the exam. This 21-year-old event manager at Deloitte said she doesn’t want any pre-conceived notions, while giving the exam. “ 100 different students will say 100 different things about the new CAT format. It’s best to get the first hand experience yourself,” she said. Kavya is taking it easy a day before the exam, and would prefer catching the latest movie than sit back and worry about CAT.

Pradeep also rues that the new format means well-equipped centres, often located far away. “Many of my batchmates and friends think that the test sites are in distant locations. Some of us haven’t even got the desired city and have to go to other cities to give the exam. That basically kills the purpose of revamping CAT. There should be more centres,” Pradeep said, adding that all these factors combined with the unfamiliar situation of the first time computerised CAT is leading to apprehensions and nervousness.

Lata Mathur, who will take the test in the second session on day one, said she wants to tap some candidates who would give the exam in the morning. This would be the second attempt at CAT for this Meerut-based science graduate, who had enrolled in a coaching institute in Delhi to prepare. On Thursday, the IIMs issued a non-disclosure disclaimer about the CAT exam to prevent candidates from relaying any information, including verbal or written discussion about the exam before December 7, the last day.

CAT committee chairperson and IIM Ahmedabad professor Satish Deodhar said the 241,582-candidates, who are expected to take the exam this year, are most or less evenly spread out over the 10 days. “The preferred choices were Saturdays and Sundays, and we made sure there were two weekends in the 10-day period. Weekends are preferred by both students and working professionals,” he said.

Mr Deodhar said the committee wanted to have critical infrastructure for computerisation, and hence some centres are located away from usual locations. He tries to pacify fears of technical glitches during the exams.

“We have kept some extra machines reserved, which students can use in case of problems,” he said. “The invigilator will note the time that a candidates faces a computer glitch, and once he resumes the exam in another terminal, that much extra time will be given to him to complete the test,” he assures.

0Comments

Are you a Business Owner? Get Your Free Business Listing on Economic Times.